City of Umatilla voters turn down bond for police station; Milton-Freewater voters support public transportation bond

UMATILLA COUNTY — Voters in Umatilla County chose consistency over change in key races in the special district election Tuesday, May 20, despite low turnout of about 14%.

For the Port of Umatilla, both incumbents Bob Blanc and Jerry Simpson retained their seats, according to unofficial election results released at 10:45 p.m. by the county. Blanc beat former Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann 3,805 to 2,498 (60.2%) to hold Position 2.

“A big thank you to all those who supported my campaign,” said Blanc after the unofficial results were posted. “My appreciation to the voters who have given me the opportunity to continue serving, to make our county and our communities a better place to live and work.”

Blanc’s counterpart Simpson won Position 3 with 2,982 votes (51.9%) to challenger Paul Chalmers’s 2,732.

Simpson said

“I thought it was an opportunity for some fresh eyes to see different perspectives, but ultimately it’s up to the voters to make those decisions, so it’s all good,” said Chalmers after his loss.

In the city of Umatilla, 58.1% of residents (276–199) chose not to support the proposed police station bond, which would’ve cost $19.8 million over 20 years to build a new facility. The city will instead have to pursue alternative sources of funding for the project.

In Milton-Freewater, 61.1% of voters (281–179) opted to support a public transportation bond, which will renew current local option taxes for a five-year period totaling $500,000. The bond subsidizes public transportation by taxi for senior and disabled citizens, the measure’s summary said.

The unofficial winners for other contested races in Umatilla County are as follows:

• Helix School District Position 1: Bobby Corey (62.3%)
• Hermiston School District Position 4: Phillip Spicerkuhn (52.6%)
• Hermiston School District Position 6: Chris Elliott (52.6%)
• Pendleton School District Position 4: Ryan DeGrofft (73.7%)
• Stanfield School District Position 3: Devin Bailey (63.8%)
• Stanfield School District Position 4: Nikki McCann (58.6%)
• Pilot Rock Cemetery District Position 2: Tom Rugg (85.9%)
• Umatilla County Library District: Judy Bracher (63.7%)
• Umatilla Fire District Position 1: Tracy Finck (59.5%)
• Umatilla Hospital District Position 4: Charlotte Baxter (62.7%)

Turnout for the 2025 special district election, at 13.99% as of 10:45 p.m. election night, was just higher that of the 2023 special district election, which had 13.42% turnout. Elections Division Director of Administrative Services Dan Lonai said around 8:30 p.m. the number of ballots returned in 2025 was already higher than in 2023 and he expected the turnout percentage to be about the same after the rest of the ballots were returned and counted.

Regardless, both 2023 and 2025 saw lower turnout than the 2021 special district election, which had nearly 20% of voters respond. Lonai said turnout in special district elections often relates to bond measures. In 2021, for example, there was a bond for Umatilla County Fire District No. 1. This year, there were no large-scale measures.